In Memory Of The Human Race

In Memory of the Human Race                 

They never really had a chance.

A short run, on an out of the way planet.

Strange creatures, those Homo-sapien sapiens.

What a mess they made!

Just couldn’t adapt.

Self awareness, such a terrible burden.

Always seeking better deck chairs

Killed themselves.

There is good news,

The species became extinct

Before it could destroy all life,

And the bad news?

This is being read by

A 200,000th generational descendant  of a fish.

In Between The Raindrops

In Between the Rain Drops 8/20/09

Elephants enter the hotel lobby.

On a foggy, rainy morning 5000 miles away,

I momentarily emerged from 

A screen filled with the days disasters.

A new president was being pilloried ,

Wars were not going well,

Glaciers continued to melt at alarming speed,

And Elephants were passing through a resort lobby.

Hotel guests studied that small caravan.

A perfect juxtaposition in a world of endless suffering.

Amazing!

A moment of joy and wonder.

Eight elephants continued a daily ritual

That went back long before the hotel was built.

Meal time meant lumbering to the fruit trees,

Now on the other side of the new lodge.

Kafka would have rejoiced at the absurdity.

The hotel was booked for the next year.

On the far side of a clear, thick, plexiglas wall

Guests smiled at the passing scene.

A sinking stinking planet

Being destroyed by home grown idiots

While a parade of eight elephants,

With no political affiliation, received a standing ovation. 

Important Business Meeting

What Jerry Experienced

Pablo and Sonia were exploring the idea of opening a bed and breakfast,

Coupled with a Vegan restaurant.

We were heavily into the discussion.

I was feeling it.

Facing them across my kitchen table,

Pointing out the need for a detailed projection,

A capital cost analysis,

And a marketing study.

I looked into the eyes of my friends.

Both wore serious frowns.

My probing questions had gained a foothold.

I needed to take care not to discourage them.

Unless the answers, when carefully arrived at,

Spelled an unacceptable level of risk

Relative to the potential emotional and financial gain. 

Their faces were showing the strain. They understood.

What Pablo and Sonia Experienced.

Fred & Wilma were on Jerry’s bed,

15 feet away and very visible over Jerry’s shoulder.

Both dogs knew the house

And were having a great time play-fighting.

Jerry pressed his concerns.

He was being very serious.

(Fred and Wilma were each claiming the same pillow.)

We strained not to explode with laughter.

Desperate not to look at the dogs,

We stared at Jerry,

Holding our breaths,

Nodding agreement to we knew not what.

Ignorance

I look at a piece of art

To which I cannot relate.

No, This is not a new feeling.

It happens whenever I open my eyes.

There are pieces of mirrors,

Notes on Chinese fortune cookie size paper

On a wall hanging that is without shape,

Embedded with 100 soda bottle caps.

I like the effect it has on me.

"Silly" is the word that springs to mind,

But I suspect there is more to it,

And as supreme ruler I would demand an explanation.

In a major exhibit at the Guggenheim

I'd be carrying a CD player that tells me all.

Instead I stand and ask the wall

"Why should I think this is good?"

My brain offers assorted responses:

"It exonerates me for standing in this spot so long".

"I like the bottle caps"

"Someone gave this work an award"

I half expect a time will come

When a fully certified attendant

Will point me out and demand

"Bourgeoisie soul, who let you in"?

Herb's Gifts

Herb knows the names of his teachers,

Everyone one of them,

Going back 85 years to kindergarten.

He has that gift.

A practical man

He avoids self-reference in the third person

But will share his history, be it humor or insight.

He has that gift.

His counsel is casual, but pointed.

Herb will ask before he answers,

Knowing he doesn’t want to answer the wrong question.

He has that gift.

Wise and outgoing he solicits other opinions,

Weighs them carefully.

He greets friends with a hug to show he cares.

He has that gift.

Herb’s love of family is the star

That allows the constellation

Of friends to draw close and feel the warmth.

He has that gift.

Going To Gramma Ann's

Only 80 miles to her house,

It seemed to take a lifetime.

Gramma Ann had that effect on me.

I dreaded every mile and every minute.

Her mother must have had an awful meal

Just prior to Ann’s birth,

Something bitter and indigestible,

Perhaps a very bad pickle.

Traffic moved slowly on the Long Island Expressway,

(What else is new?)

60 miles in 2 hours.

Crossing Manhattan claimed anther hour.

In a pre air-conditioned drive to Jersey,

Taking 4 sweat filled hours,

(Or was it days?)

There was one redeeming thought.

She was a grandma by marriage, not birth.

This woman, who never smiled,

Never parted with her closest friend, money,

Without signs of grief .

Arriving at her front door,

Looking at the short, stout body

Sitting beneath an unsmiling face

She greeted us “So finally you come for a visit.”

Xmas In New York

In New York, a strange euphoria 

Captures the city in late December.

What is this metamorphoses?

I think it's hope. 

The metropolis, always so cool, so cynical,

Wears a different mask for Christmas.

Suspended is the certainty 

That all is, inevitably, corrupt

A new-born seen as limitless,

Capable of the extraordinary,

Unfettered from gravity,

Allows those near to imagine the impossible

I am not immune to the small gift,

Of a stranger’s passing greetings,

A seat left open for the old guy,

Even as the train fills to capacity.

Not quite the morphine 

Dispersion of all matter,

Rather the easing of a foot

Stamped down on the gas peddle.

For these few days I loosen the knot,

Let the other car pass,

Feel a little better about myself

Open my eyes, smile, and exhale.